From: JoAnn Portalupi <jport>
Date: Mon, 17 Mar 1997 09:20:09 +0000

I'm a new subscriber so had planned to browse a bit before posting, but I couldn't bypass Rob's invitation. When the Newbery was announced The View
 From Saturday was sitting on my coffee table waiting to be read. I immediately scoured Birmingham for enough copies of the book so the book group I've started could read and talk about it together. We had our discussion just last week.

My first response upon reading it was that the story was interestingly constructed, but lacking in emotional force. I liked the book, but wasn't sure it pushed itself to a level that warranted a Newbery. When our group convened people started talking about the frustration they felt reading it; they felt encumbered trying to piece together all the connections. I was surprised to discover that the more they spoke about this, the stronger I felt about defending the book. It seems to me that the structure of the book, and even the experience a reader has with it, echoes perfectly the theme of interdependence so central to the novel.

As a reader I'm almost always drawn to attend to the architecture of a novel. In these terms, this book is highly complex and quite interesting. It's a book that got better the more I worked at it. I'm not sure how that bodes for younger readers. My experience suggests that this is a book that needs to be talked about (aren't they all). But I think this is especially true if younger readers are going to glean the most from what Konigsburg has given us.

JoAnn Portalupi UAB School of Education Department of Curriculum & Instruction 901 South 13th St. Birmngham, AL 35294 - 1250
        phone (205) 934T19
        fax (205) 934G92
Received on Mon 17 Mar 1997 03:20:09 AM CST